You Can Do The Cube Competitions?

[PhillipEspinoza]

So I've heard of the YouCanDoTheCube people before but I didn't know they had their own competitions? I was asked to help out with this Rubik's Cube related project and found out that they were holding a competition but without the WCA. Looking at the rules/regulations for their competitions, it's obvious they borrowed a majority of their stuff from the WCA but I was wondering if they did this in collaboration with the WCA?

Their competitions however, are not run the conventional way. From what I understand, in an upcoming competition they will have teams of 8 solve about 25 cubes and see who solves them the fastest. There are also cash prizes for winning this "competition" (over $1000 Grand Prize). What I don't understand is how they even expect to pull of something like this with over 30 teams of 8. That's over 750 cubes you have to scramble! And with at least 240 people competing, it seems crazy to think that this can happen in one day (especially with their target competitors of K-12 who would most likely solve in the 1-2 min range). But say a decent cuber of sub-20 times found out about this competition and registered their school. Couldn't that cuber alone out of their whole team solve all the cubes in the time it would take the other teams of 8 to solve their 25 cubes?

Does anyone know anything about this?

Here's the link:
http://www.youcandothecube.com/compete-now/

 

[mazei]

It looks kinda...can't find words to describe. But its bad.

I think the WCA should just approach them? Perhaps they think hosting a WCA competition is troublesome when it isn't, because the part where they say "Hosting a competition is easy" or something of that sort, it kinda makes it seem that way in my mind.

 

[Sin-H]

Come on. Having different associations is annoying enough for martial arts, but in Cubing too? They should work together. It can help our sport to reach more people ^^

 

[Bryan]

I've contacted them in the past to try and collaborate with them to expand competitions in the US (specifically for the Chicago area), but it looks like they decided to go on their own. Probably because they need to restrict competitors and want to do things in their own way.

 

[Stefan]

They just have a very different objective, want to teach kids and give them confidence and stuff. And their school group competitions are quite possibly better for that than ours.

Some videos for those unfamiliar:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9v0scGnAo8w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hs6PmmPLjh4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0STQDkEB2FY

I believe a video of one of their competitions was posted before, but I can't find it anymore. Anyone else?

 

[Tim Reynolds]

They say there's going to be a Boston area competition in Fall 2010. Maybe I'll attend and see if I can help out at all--I'd be interested to get a better picture of how their events run.

 

[mazei]

New official event perhaps? Team event.

 

[KConny]

I wouldn't say they are in competition with the WCA. This seems to be a totally diffrent organisation. Moore noobfriendly, focusing on kids.

But I do think that everyone should boycott an organisation that aims to be like the WCA. The one that comes to mind is Guinness World Records.

It's good that they looked at the WCA rules. Why try to come up with new one when we've been doing it for years.
In the section named 'The "Solved" State' they've used the same pictures as in the WCA rules.

 

[PhillipEspinoza]

Wow... all those videos were just painful to watch.

But what I really think they're trying to do is turn speedcubing into the next big marketable thing for kiddies. They're trying to make it like Speedstacking, since they noticed how successful it was in terms of popularity and money. The thing is, they are excluding an entire age group of people from their competitions and trying to promote the cube as a learning tool for teachers in classrooms. I mean, I have no problem with that but why not work with the WCA? Why try to re-invent the wheel?

I never thought making another cube association besides WCA was possible? Or even desirable for that matter. But, I guess when you have money a lot of things are possible.

And as for the 8 person team event, it's not really any indicator of speed or teamwork, it just measure how fast the slowest person on the team can solve about 3 cubes.

 

[deadalnix]

Wa have a french version called interrubik. you can find some video of it on youtube.

 

[qqwref]

Tyson and I were thinking it'd be cool to get a "team" of one cuber who's a math/science teacher and eight speedcubers from various high schools. Remember the team doesn't all have to be from one school! It would be pretty funny to solve all the cubes in about a minute.

Anyway, I don't have any problem with them using the cube as a motivational device, but I don't really like how they are calling their little setup a competition and then giving out more money than most actual competitions give out. I know the cubing community doesn't have all that much money coming in, but by now this really is quite a competitive and serious hobby, and I don't really like the idea of people who just barely learned to do it getting treated better than people who have practically mastered the puzzle. I kind f feel like it's an insult to our community - saying that, look, there's no point in practicing enough to solve the cube in 12 or 15 seconds, because one minute is more than fast enough.

 

[Dene]

Tyson and I were thinking it'd be cool to get a "team" of one cuber who's a math/science teacher and eight speedcubers from various high schools. Remember the team doesn't all have to be from one school! It would be pretty funny to solve all the cubes in about a minute.

This shouldn't be hard to arrange. Do it!

 

[Deleted member 2864]

It's a noob friendly comp. Like stefan said though, it's used for building up self confidence.

And I see no point to be jealous about their prizes. What they won is what they earned, even if any of us could probably outperform anybody who enters those comps.

 

[SebCube]

are there any in NZ

 

[dannyz0r]

Quite a few in NE. Looks good

 

[dillonbladez]

i would have a good chance of winning, but two things need to happen:

1) you can do the cube competitions in canada (toronto)

2) harris, sarah, eric, daniel, (and everyone faster than me) know nothing of this.

 

[fanwuq]

My cubing club advisor bought a set of cubes from youcandothecube.com. It costs about $4 per cube. They are just regular storebought Rubik's cubes. Hopefully we will get 5+ people to go to the Drexel Competition next month. They plan is for everyone to compete in 3x3x3; however, some people who can solve in around 2 minutes few that they are too slow to compete.
The one in Washington, DC in October looks like something my school can participate in. I know a sophomore and a junior who are quite serious and I'll just make sure they are sub-15 by that time. The competition is only for students in MD, DC, and VA. Other competitions also seem to be local.
Note: It appears that the money goes to the school, not the students.